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6

Durand Nguyen
Staff Reporter

Inside This Issue
4

Hadiqa Memon
Design Editor

A collection of many relics from the past that had a major influence in studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; childhood.

monday, October 15, 20112
Vol. XIX No. II
Kerr High School
8150 Howell-Sugar Land Rd.
Houston, TX 77083
(281) 983-8484 ext. 267
Kerronicle Staff:
Story Editor
Editor-in-Chief
Nadia Zulfa
Jason Nguyen
Design Editor
Assistant Editor
Hadiqa Memon
Tuong-Phi Le
Business Manager
Phat Pham
Staff Reporters:
Alyssa Martinez
Alyssa Andaverde
Durand Nguyen
Jeff Chien
Julia Nguyen
Kelli Chow
Julie Nguyen
Tracey Le
Kevin Nguyen
The Kerronicle is published six times a
year by the student newspaper staff of Kerr
High School and serves as a medium of
communication for its readers. It exists to
inform its readers about school and community, school policies and their changes,
entertainment, and to serve as a forum for
student expression.
Advertisers interested in placing an ad
in the Kerronicle should contact the staff
at (281) 983-8484 ext. 267 or 8150 Howell
Sugar Land, Houston, TX 77083.
Letters to the editor are
welcomed and encouraged.
Letters should be delivered to
room 302 or e-mailed to laura.
negri@aliefisd.net. All letters
must be signed.

On Campus

New laptop and phone policies

8

Cover Story

Looking back on childhood
Kidsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; TV shows: more scary than
they seem

Former student Timothy
Wang visited campus in
May before heading to the
Olympics.

Pretty Little Liars: Behind the
craze

Feature

14 Self-discovery at National
Thespian Festival

Transfer students find new haven

Sports

15 Jeremy Lin: a boon for the
Rockets?

Rebecca Negri
Contributor

Table Tennis Club co-founder
Timothy Wang goes Olympian

Table of Contents | Kerronicle | 3

Preparing for STAAR:

I

n order to adapt to the
new Texas Standard Assessment test, STAAR
EOC, Alief ISD has modified
the exemption policies to better prepare its students.
To qualify for an exemption, you must have at least
an 85 average in the class or
80 for Pre-AP/AP classes. The
student must also be cleared
of all student debts such as
library fine or owed textbook
money. No more than two
absences to school, excused
or unexcused, and two tardies in a class or advisory will
be allowed to qualify for the
exemption. You must also not
have been assigned to Good
Choices or received stricter
penalty infractions for discipline or academic integrity
issues. No more than two office referrals will be allowed
to qualify for the exemption.
For all courses not tied to
an EOC exam or for students
not required to take an EOC
exam, the final exam will
weigh 15 percent of the final

grade. However, in the first
and third terms, all finals will
be count as major grades.
If the EOC exam will
count as 15 percent of the final grade, then the final exam
will be administered and
count as a major grade with
standard grading scale policy
in effect.
If the 15 percent calculation of EOC into the final
grade is withdrawn, the final exam will weigh 15 percent and be factored into the
current traditional grading
structure.
Students are required to
attend the class they have exempted on the day of the test.
Number of Exemptions
per Grade Level:
9th Grade: Terms 1 and 3No Exemptions; Terms 2 and
4- 1 Exemption
10th Grade: 1 Exemption
per Term
11th Grade: Terms 1 and
3- 1 Exemption; Terms 2 and
4- 2 Exemptions
12th Grade: Terms 1 and

3- 2 Exemptions; Terms 2 and
4- 4 Exemptions
No exemptions in core
classes during the 1st and 3rd
terms for 9th through 11th
grade.
The district’s decision to
cut the number of final exam
exemptions students can earn
is disappointing, but the reasons behind the change are
understandable, and there are
even some benefits.
The district’s decision to
cut down on exemptions was
to prepare the classes of 2015
and later for the STAAR EOC
tests which are reputed to be
more difficult than TAKS.
TAKS only tested students
by grade level in the basic
subjects of Math, English,
Social Studies, and Science.
Now, the STAAR EOC tests
are course-specific. For example, if you take Algebra
II, the EOC will only test
you on Algebra II. For any
academic core class taken in
high school through the 11th
grade, a STAAR EOC test will

District reduces exemptions to
prepare for end of course exams

follow.
The final exams help the
teachers analyze students’
strengths and weaknesses.
With that information, teachers can customize plans to
help their students perform
better on the STAAR EOC.
The final exams serve as an
important checkpoint. Performing well on the STAAR
EOC is important because if
the students do not meet the
minimum requirement, they
will have to re-take it. They
will also have to take remedial classes, which occur mostly
in the summer. The district
reduced the amount of exemptions so freshmen and
sophomores can take their finals to help them prepare for
the EOC.
For juniors and seniors
who do not have to take the
STAAR EOC, the district’s
decision seems to have a negative impact. In truth, there
are some benefits. All of the
finals are now only 15 percent
of the overall grade. Students

who do poorly on the final
exams won’t have their overall grade in the class plummet
as much as they would prior
to the change. For terms 1
and 3, all finals will count
as major grades and not as a
separate percent grade. This
is of great benefit for juniors
and seniors who do not have
to take the EOC.
This new exemptions
policy applies to all Alief high
schools. Kerr was actually
granted a few more exemptions due to block scheduling.
Though the policy on exemptions changed, it does
not change the fact we still
have finals. No matter what
grade we are currently in, we
still need to study for those
finals. The benefit of the final not having as much of an
impact on our overall grade
average is one less thing we
have to worry about.

Jeff Chien

Staff Reporter

Weighing the options: The official platforms of both parties
Democrat
Withdraw troops from Afghanistan; attack alQaeda; strengthen alliances
Support abortion, same sex marriage, and support women healthcare
Double fuel efficiency standards; increase oil
production; increase natural energy resources
Minimum wages and higher taxes for higher income
brackets
Support Medicare; eliminate insurance company abuse
“Pay As You Earn” program provides loan at 10% of
income; invest in community colleges; for reform in local
schools
Democratic plans for issues found on Barackobama.com

4 | Kerronicle | Opinion

Republican
Increase military spending; expand on the Air Force,
Navy, Army and Marine
Against abortion; support stem cell research;
against same sex marriage.
Support development of independent energy; states
have right to regulate energy production; open new
areas of energy production
No tax increase; support free-market economy
Replace Obamacare with states’ power to regulate
healthcare; limit federal requirements for Medicaid
Use federal funds to reform education; expand
on parental choice
Republican plans for issues found on Mittromney.com

C

Laptop policy changes emerge
S

tudents have found it a little
easier this year to use their electronic devices in many classes,
due to a clarification in the rules made
by Principal Greg Freeman.
Alief ISD policies still restrict
the use of electronic devices such as
cell phones and laptops on campus,
but while students are not supposed
to have their devices out during the
school day, Freeman said it is up to
teachers to decide whether students
can use their phones or laptops in

class.
“Some people have to use a calculator or they have reasons and the
teacher says its okay for them to use
their phone,” he said. “I don’t mind
it at all because it’s for instruction.” If
students are listening to music as they
work, he added, the phones should be
“put away somewhere,” not left out on
the desk.
Students can also bring their own
laptops as long as they do not use
them to access the internet during

Clubs to check out

A

nnouncements are made
on the PA system – the
usual STUCO, Students for
Humanity, Cadre Kerr and Speech &
Debate. For freshmen, these clubs may
be the only ones they know and are
worth going. Upperclassmen would
raise an objection, thinking there are
other clubs but fail to know any. Here
are some underrated clubs that are
so overshadowed most Kerr students
wouldn’t even know they existed.

Knitting Club
Sponsor: Monica Woods (pictured)
Knitting is a
relaxing activity
for anyone of any
age. Though the
club is currently
inactive,
anyone
interested
can talk to Ms.
Woods in the
Math Center.

Science and Engineering Club
Sponsor: Eric Dunlap (pictured)
It’s not guaranteed that this club
will make anyone the next Bill
Nye the Science
Guy, but the fun
projects
will
wake up those
tiny brain cells.
Meetings are on
Mondays in the
Science Center.

Anime Club
Sponsor: Karen Evans
Officer: Michael Rossi (pictured)
Interested in
Japanese culture
and
language?
Join Anime Club.
Get immersed in
a different world
— where humans
are
controlled
by robots, food
is purchased from space, frogs are
tyrants, or all three. Meetings are on
Fridays at the Social Studies Center at
2:30. Each meeting will be centered
on a theme or a season.

Table Tennis Club
Sponsor: Rick Madsen (pictured)
Get
your
paddles out for
Table
Tennis
Club. Started by
Timothy Wang,
a Kerr alumnus
who made it to
the 2012 Olympics, Table Tennis Club continues to be a
friendly environment for epic rounds
of table tennis. Meetings are on Tuesdays most weeks. With no official officers or members, anyone can attend
at any time to play table tennis.

class. However, enforcement of the
laptop rule can vary depending on the
center: some do not allow personal
devices at all because using a personal
hotspot would allow students to go on
websites not intended for educational
purposes. Students should be sure
they know the rules of the center they
are in.
Freeman confirmed that Wi-Fi
will be available on campus later this
year, at least for use with school devices like netbooks and tablets.

“I will be really happy at some
point when students are able to access
the internet when we go wireless,” he
said. “I’m excited about that. We need
to start using more technology. You
guys have a lot already at home that
you can bring or in your hands, in
your pockets. And we need to use that
technology for education.”

Julia Nguyen

Staff Reporter

Gamer’s Club
Sponsor: Karen Evans
Officer: Raylan Houston (pictured)
G a m e r ’s
Club is a place
to learn with
each
other
about
gaming and play
with peers in
the real world.
Meetings
are
on Thursdays at
the Social Studies Center from 2:30
to 4:10.

Over 55,000 products from
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musicians at every skill level
—only at Musician’s Friend!

Test Prep: Are test prep programs really worth it?

I

t’s a scorching summer morning as
Senior Cassandra Vallecilla steps
in a classroom full of students. As
she sits down, a standardized test is
slapped in front of her: the SAT. The
timer starts; she begins taking her
exam.
Wanting to improve her score on
the SAT, Vallecilla took Testmasters,
a well-known test prep program. It
costed $700, but Vallecilla says the
preparation was worth the cost.
“I’ve improved my math score
and my reading score by a significant
amount,” Vallecilla said. “I feel less
nervous and more prepared for the
exam.”
Vallecilla said it improved her
practice score by over 300 points and
feels confident about taking the test
this year.
Most test prep programs provide
customers with practice exams,
classrooms sessions with instructors,
practice books, and other review
materials and promise significant
improvements in test scores.
But in 2009, the National
Association for College Admission
Counseling
released
a
study
concluding that most students had
only small increases in test scores
after taking a commercial test prep

course. The NACAC recommended
inexpensive alternatives, such as
books and the internet, to prepare for
college entrance exams.
Junior Hanah Choice took Prime
Score, another test prep program.
“[They] taught me to go through
problem solving steps so I wouldn’t
miss questions carelessness,” Choice
said. “[They] also gave tips on how to
get certain questions on math sections
with shortcuts…”
Choice claims their test taking
strategies are helpful, but thinks
the learning environment could be
structured differently.
“…Sometimes I felt like the other
students in the class were spending
too much time trying to question the
reasoning of each specific question or
sentence in a passage,” Choice said. “I
would have liked being grouped in a
class that shared the similarities of the
weaknesses and strengths.”
Studying
independently
is
the option senior David Vien
recommends.
“If you have your own initiative,
you can buy some books and study
yourself,” Vien said. “You don’t need
someone else to tell you how to study
because the books and the people
teach the same thing.”

Vien, a National Merit Semifinalist, scored well after studying
on his own. However the method
of studying depends on the person,
according to counselor Sara Tones.
“The thing about a course is that
they can really help you analyze your
strengths and weaknesses,” Tones
said. “So if you can’t be honest with
yourself about that kind of stuff,
doing a book study by yourself won’t
be as beneficial.”
For students who want a
structured test-prep program without
the price tag, districts and schools
provide free courses.
This year, the district is offering
a test prep program for juniors with
high scores on last fall’s Preliminary
Scholastic Aptitude Test. The
Superintendent’s
Academically
Talented Scholars is to prepare
students for the PSAT on October
17. When the scores for this year’s
PSAT are released, the top-scoring
sophomores will be invited to join the
program.
“It is also a mentorship program
to help students prepare for college,
the test, and for all of those things
that come with it,” Tones said. “It
combines all those things we tell you
are important in high school, into one

Sen
s
iors s
hare SAT tip
“Get lots of sleep and
fill up two pages for the
essay.”

“For the reading section,
make yourself love the
stories even when you don’t
like it.”

Dimitri Koufakis, 12

“Bring food [for the break].”
“Don’t cram. If you study
the last day, you won’t
know anything.”

n, 12
David Vie
te, 12
o
n
de
A
h
a
Debr

program.”
English Sarah Urban, who teaches
College Prep at Kerr, likes the class
because it focuses on the student’s
problems.
“I like that you can take [the class]
twice and it can be customized with
two different course codes, so you
can actually take it two times in four
years,” she said. “I think that it’s the
best one in the district.”
Students who are interested in
taking a test prep course may sign
up online. Those who want to take a
free course may discuss it with their
counselor. The counselors’ office also
has free study guides.
Online, College Board has free
resources such as an SAT practice test
and a “SAT question of the Day.”
However students choose to
prepare, the NACAC says that
preparation is important for everyone,
and Vallecilla agrees.
“There is a lot of logic on the SAT,”
Vallecilla said. “Test prep programs
teaches you the logic behind the test
that we don’t know.”

ACT Dates (Registration deadlines) Kerr students who are U.S.citizens, testing in the U.S., who cannot afford
the testing fees will be able to have two waivers total for each test. There
Dec. 8 (Nov. 2)
are two waivers for SAT Subject Tests. They must meet one or more
Feb. 9 (Jan. 11)
indicators of economic need listed on the waiver form. Students who are
April 13 (March 8)
qualified for free or reduced lunch are eligible for test fee waivers and
June 8 (May 3)
should see their counselors for more information.

Julia Nguyen

Staff Reporter

Special Report | Kerronicle | 7

They grew old, we grew
Once upon a time, movies came on VHS tapes and music came from a Walkman. In
this issue, Jeff Chien tracks the subtle evolution of Apple’s innovations. Kelli Chow
examines how a teenage perspective changes children’s
shows. And students recount the bittersweet memories
brought back by their childhood toys and shows
Jason Nguyen, Tuong-Phi Le, & Jeff Chien

Editor-in-Chief, Assistant Editor, and Staff Reporter

3

1

4

2

E

legantly made and clothed, the 24 Lolita
dolls each had a different nationality; combined, their unique clothes and accessories
filled a collectible trunk.
None of them, her mother said, would be allowed through to America. So shortly after her
eighth birthday, Annie Nguyen-Vo sold every last
one.
“I cried,” she said. “I was like, ‘Ma, can we bring
even one’? And she was like no, I can’t bring any.
And I was just like why? I can’t bring any?”
For Nguyen-Vo, now a junior, Lolita dolls bring
back memories of her childhood. She grew up in
Phuoc Tinh on the southern Vietnamese coast, her
days filled with the rhythms of a fishing town. Every year she watched the men of the village mend
their nets for fishing season. She rode her German

shepherd along the beach and spent hours dressing
up her dolls.
“I didn’t want to leave,” Nguyen-Vo said. “My
mom was like, ‘You’ll get a better life in America.
[She was right] but I still want my childhood back.”
You don’t find Lolita dolls easily anymore. The
name has all but disappeared, its only remaining
record of existence the stray mentions by vintage
doll collectors. Other Asian fashion dolls carry on
the design—the oversized head, the wide, colorful,
anime-style eyes, the spindly legs. But four-year-old
Nguyen-Vo fell in love with the Lolita doll, and it’s
the Lolitas that she remembers when she thinks of
her childhood.
Pop culture was no less influential on the other
side of the world. Students grew up in the age of
classic Disney and early Pixar, when the newness

Founded in 1976 by Steve
Job and co-founders
Ronald Wayne and Steve
Wozniak, Apple is famed
for its innovations.

still lingered on films like Mulan (1998), Shrek
(2001) and Finding Nemo (2003). Remembering
old toys and movies brings back a simpler time:
a time of no homework, fewer complications and
childhood adventures.
For freshman Ann Morris, it’s a television show:
the ‘90s comedy Friends takes her back nearly six
years, to when her parents were still together.
“My mom loved to watch Friends,” she said. “So
any time I see Friends, I get to know my mom, kind
of, or her sense of humor because of that.”
Freshman Thomas Lee’s obsession with 2002’s
Spider-Man caused him a serious injury.
“When I was seven, I watched Spider-Man,” he
said. “And when I got home, I climbed on the roof
and I jumped off, trying to be Spider-Man, and then
I broke my arm.” He also sprained his ankle and

wrist and had to get stitches on a cut on his hand,
still scarred over today.
Senior Keiren Velez associates classic Disney
movies with childhood.
“My friends and I—well, I lived up the hill from
them, and I would go down to their house and they
had a collection of Disney Princess movies,” she
said. “And every Friday night we would watch Snow
White through—I think—The Little Mermaid.”
She was jarred to find out the actual release date
of The Little Mermaid: 1989, was over 20 years ago.
Other Disney films are similarly old: Beauty and the
Beast premiered in 1991, Aladdin in 1992.
Velez, watching the films a few years later on,
would have seen them on VHS tapes—an antiquity
amid today’s Blu-Ray disks and online streaming.
“It makes me feel old,” she said, “and I kind of

iPod touch
3rd Generation
September 2009

miss those days of just going back to my friend’s
house…Not having to worry about doing homework and—filling out essays for college, scholarships. It was just…a simpler time.”
Remembering the ‘90s and early 2000s begs the
question: have we grown up, or has time flown?
Morris believes she’s had to grow up quickly.
“When I moved in with my grandparents [after
my parents’ divorce],” she said, “I had to take up a lot
of responsibility…[I had to be] more mature with
my decisions and more unbiased.”
Nguyen-Vo, on the other hand, doesn’t think
she’ll ever outgrow dolls.
“I mean, if you give me a Lolita doll I’ll make
it pretty,” she said. “If you put a doll in front of me
right now, I’ll just turn back into my seven-year-old
self and…I’ll just make it pretty and I’ll play with it.”

iPod Shuffle
4th Generation
September 2010

iPod Touch
4th Generation
September 2010

Subliminal messages
found in children’s
television favorites

B

am! Mojo Jojo has been defeated
once again by the Powerpuff Girls! It’s
familiar, waking up Saturday mornings
to watch the latest episode of your favorite
cartoons are all too familiar. While children
television shows such as The Powerpuff Girls,
Adventure Time, or The Grim Adventures of
Billy and Mandy may seem harmless, many
other shows, like those, contain content geared
towards an older crowd.
Take The Grim Adventures of Billy and
Mandy, for example. The show is based around
a sadistic girl in pink named Mandy, a moronic
boy name Billy, and their adventures with their
pet,the Grim Reaper. The main characters
are constantly killing or simply making other
people’s lives miserable. Mandy is the cruelest
character, even more so than the Grim Reaper,
since she intentionally kills people through
malicious schemes and general violence.
Adventure Time is also a prime example. The
show follows a young boy named Finn and his
shape-shifting magical dog, Jake, in the Land of
Ooo. The show has an abundant of subliminal
messages that can give the wrong impression to
children. In the episode, “Slumber Party Panic,”
the residents of the Land of Ooo played Truth
or Dare and the cupcake was dared to take off
its wrapper. It’s a joke that amuses teenagers,
but leaves children scratching their heads and
asking their parents the meaning.
Then there is Spongebob SquarePants,
which should come as no surprise. This show
features the undersea life of a sponge who works
at a fast food restaurant called The Krusty Krab,
located in Bikini Bottom. In the episode “The
Paper,” Plankton is caught reading a sketchy
magazine called Mitosis, which is the process
of asexual reproduction; it’s how plankton
reproduce in real life. Biology humor anyone?
Sexual innuendos like this are in almost every
episode, which should be targeted at a different
audience rather than children and teenagers.
Violence, eerie plots, and sexual innuendos
are geared towards a more mature audience,
and shouldn’t be presented in kids’ television
shows.

t 6 AM, the chorus of “Spectrum” by Florence and the Machine wakes
senior Jenny Rahman. She glances at a collage of her favorite actors
and musicians: The Muse, Cat Stevens, and The Script are just a few
that line her room.
At school, her ear buds always play British Indie music by You Me at Six,
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Blur, Kasabian, and Oasis. Once the 2:20
bell rings she goes home, has a snack and watches episodes of “The Misfits,”
“Skins,” and the “Inbetweeners.” After a few hours or so, she begins homework
with her laptop streaming the radio channel XFM London.
“[British] music is down to earth,” Rahman said. “They’re not a cliché; they
have something about them.”
From the fandom that surrounds One Direction, “Doctor Who” and
“Sherlock,” the Olympic fever, the constant followers of the royal family and to
the rising taste in posh, British culture has found its place in American society.
British boy band One Direction hit the charts after winning “X-factor”.
According to Billbord Charts, their song “What makes you beautiful” lasted
for 33 weeks.
“[One Direction’s] music is uplifting. Their song ‘What Makes You
Beautiful’ really makes you feels beautiful,” junior Mikayla Marz said. “The
British bands are catchy and bring their personality in their music.”
While British music has made it to mainstream in the U.S, according to
British Broadcasting Corporation. British television shouldn’t be factord out.
Junior, Jason Quach argues that “Doctor Who” is hipster, drawing its
appeal from its opposition to mainstream culture.
“‘Doctor Who’ is different, it has a vintage aura that attracts a deeper origin
of personality,” Quach said.
Junior Brittany Trinh enjoys the developed plots of British television.
“They just has better cinematography and actors,” Trinh said. “I find British
television is more filling; they spend time and effort into their work. ‘Sherlock’
is unlike any other American detective show—it is clever.”
Sophomore Cristian Martinez, on the other hand, thinks Anglophilia
comes from Americans’ desire for depth.
“British culture is better,” he said. “It is not like the American ‘trashy’
culture. When I listen to Adele, it is emotional and something that I can relate
to. The music just touches your heart.”
The 2012 London Olympics can’t be factored out either. According to the
British newspapaer The Guardian, approximately 27 million people watched
the Opening Ceremony, ranking it the top 20 most watched programs in
history.
“I liked the Olympics slightly better in London than Beijing,” junior
Jennifer Ho said. “London was no match to the precision of the entertainers in

the Beijing opening and closing ceremonies, they had
performances from famous British singers that even
Beijing couldn’t beat, the fact that the UK brought The
Beatles, The Spice Girls, One Direction, Adele, Jessie
J, and other British artist’s shows that the they rule in
the music world.”
She believes that the general environment of
London also played a key role.
“The British architecture was also a huge contrast
to Beijing’s because they had the London Eye, the
Tower Bridge, and the newly built venues for these
Olympics. Beijing was a beautiful host city, but
it was like having the Olympics in Times Square.
London was surrounded by beautiful castles and their
European inspired architecture is known around the
world.”
The Queen’s acting debut in the opening ceremony Anglophile Jenny
was a major comedic highlight, according to Ho.
Rahman uses British
“Besides the Queens influence, Prince William and influence to create
Kate appearing in numerous Olympic events show
her sim.
the Royal Family’s dedication to show pride for their
Team Great Britain and they also serve as a symbol of peace in the UK and
everyone loves them.”
Others argue that it’s the elegant style that appeals to the Americans.
“British clothing is posh,” freshman Natasha Bermudez said. “In a fashion
sense, the put together stuff that doesn’t go together and somehow make it
work. It’s just different.”
According to Rahman, the British culture has more to it than the
mainstream music Americans listen to.
“There is more to British culture—it’s not just One Direction,” Rahman
said. “There are so many underground bands and [television] shows that
don’t make it to the big screen. The British culture is elegant in a modern way
which seems to really attract us. I find that everything that is British has this
elegance, it’s modernly elegant.”
Whether blaring on American radios or hogging American television
sets, British culture has a major influence in the American society because
Americans tend to like new things.
“I believe British pop culture is a phase that teenagers might go through.
Just as there was the phase for being scene,
Hadiqa Memon
hipster, everyone must own skinny jeans,
Design Editor
wearing shutter shades, and now probably

Overplayed – the ‘Ahh, make it stop’ section

Unheard – the ‘Do they really exist?’ section

Nicki Minaj is known for her rapid-fire rapping, eccentric outfits comparable
to Lady Gaga, and her “boom, badoom, boom, boom, badoom, boom, bass,”
but sometimes that repetition can be annoying if played every time I turn
on the radio.
Released in 2011, “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen was the anthem of
this summer. “Call Me Maybe” is overplayed to the point that I think anyone
can identify the song by listening to the first few seconds. I certainly have.

5

4
2

Justin Bieber is the guy who raps “If I was your boyfriend, I’ll never let you
go” in his single “Boyfriend.” Bieber is overrated because not only is his
music everywhere but he himself is as well. There are Justin Biebers cutouts,
posters, and even toothbrushes.
This UK five-member boy band has invaded America’s radios. With their
stylish hair and skin-tight clothing, One Direction is wooing girls by
telling them “that’s what makes you beautiful.” Thanks, but no thanks, One
Direction. I don’t need to be told 11 times in three minutes.

3

2

1

“Oppan Gangnam Style” – need I say more? Released by K-POP star Psy,”
Gangnam Style” has received over 100,000 parodies and covers. Korean
music, for the first time, is now mainstream.

Age 13 makes a teenager, age 16 can “go on 17”, but “Eighteen Cool” can
boost awesomeness. Starting out his career by making free mixtapes,
independent rapper Hoodie Allen is still unheard by the radio and most
people. His spitting style is cool, lighthearted with a few snippets of hip-hop.

3

People might not follow this Swedish indie-pop singer-songwriter, but she’ll
“follow you.” With songs like “Little Bit,” famously sampled by Drake, and “I
Follow Rivers,” Lykke Li continues to blend soul, electro, and pop into her
music.

This English alternative rock band is known for their use of pianos instead
of guitars as their lead. Covered by Glee, “Somewhere Only We Know,” is
Keane’s most famous song.

1

4
2

Old school R&B, around 2000-2007, was a prominent time for rhythm and
blues – a genre packed with powerhouse vocals, smooth jazz, and an overall
urbane feeling. This was a time for Ne-Yo, Usher, Keri Hilson, Alicia Keys,
Mario, and many others to shine. Now, however,
Julie Nguyen
R&B is swept under the bed, joining the ranks of
Staff Reporter
underrated music.

Student Life | Kerronicle | 11

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W

ho is ‘A’ ?

for fans of ‘Pretty Little Liars,’ the attraction is mystery mixed with reality

With her AP Biology textbook
open, computer turned on and her
PAKS scattered across her desk, senior
An Dinh was determined to finish her
work only to spend the rest of the night
eagerly posting statuses regarding the
finale of the ABC drama, Pretty Little
Liars.
“It has ruined my life, to be honest,”
said Dinh. “I’m just obsessed with this
show.”
The show involves complex
relationships, blackmail, and lots
of lying. After queen bee Alison
DiLaurentis is found dead, her four
friends are left to deal with her murder
and an anonymous stalker, “A”, who
knows all their secrets and the killer’s
identity.
“It keeps me on my toes,”
sophomore Joslyn Amaya said. “I like

it because it’s so dramatic and intense,”
Amaya said.
Junior Jamarcus Lacy agrees. “[The
show] always has something that you
want to figure out. It keeps you coming
back.”
The season three’s finale averaged
about 3 million viewers and generated
more than 709,000 tweets during the
finale, showing just how large the fan
base is.
Despite the show’s popularity, some
consider it an annoyance.
“[All the hype] is ridiculous
because it’s taking up my newsfeed,”
junior Jim Luu said. “In their statuses
they’re just screaming with a lot of
exclamation points.”
Dinh also knows about the show’s
social media impact, “Before and after
every episode, there would be at least

five statuses on Facebook about how
crazy the new episode will be or was,”
Dinh said.
So is Pretty Little Liars realistic or
rubbish?
Freshman Ana Jaramillo believes it
is realistic.
“There has been shoplifting and
people who can hack into things,”
Jaramillo said.
However according to Dinh, some
elements are far-fetched.
“Teachers and students don’t
normally have relationships, and
people in real life certainly don’t leave
their doors unlocked as much as the
characters do.”
Realistic or not, Amaya thinks the
characters aren’t role models.
“They lie a lot, have sex, which isn’t
good,” she said. “They aren’t the type of

person I would be.”
Dinh feels the same.
“All in all, they lie too much to be
looked up to.”
Lacy said much of the appeal of the
show is in the elements viewers can
relate to.
“Even though Pretty Little Liars
is known for its quality of engaging
entertainment, the producers create a
personal appeal to its audience,” said
Lacy. “Whether it’s attaining to high
expectations, living in broken families,
longing for acceptance by society, or
dealing with the constant conflict of
gossip, the characters deal with the
insecurity that teenagers relate to.”
Alyssa Andaverde, Alyssa
Martinez & Julie Nguyen
Staff Reporters

Oppan Gangnam Style
Korean popstar Psy goes viral

S

tudents are dancing and
donning STUCO T-shirts
in the aftermath of the first
RUSH meeting.
Suddenly, a
familiar sound fills the cafeteria
as people begin to gallop on
invisible horses. As an
icebreaker, Gangnam Style
has made its way to Kerr.
The July 15 release
of “Gangnam Style”
introduced
people
worldwide
to
the
satirical work of Korean
singer Park Jae-sang,
better known as Psy.
As of now, Psy’s
“Gangnam Style” is
the highest viewed
K-POP music video on
YouTube with over
350 million views,
and was ranked
#1 on iTunes in
18
different
countries. Psy
i s
the
second
Korean to ever
rank among the
US Billboard, the
first being the Wonder
Girls.

The captivating electronica
tune meshed with Psy’s rhythmic
rapping either entrances or
repulses viewers. The video
begins on a sunny day when a
man is slumped against a beach
chair, legs crossed, hand clutching
a glass of soda, lethargically
rolling his head left and right.
He passionately sings “Oppan
Gangnam style” and the camera
pans in to him strutting in a
tuxedo with dapper sunglasses
and hair gelled back.
Like Psy said, “The mindset is:
‘Dress classy and dance cheesy,’”
Junior Tina Mai liked the
video.
“It’s addictive – weird, but
funny. It makes me smile, and I
like the dance,” she said.
But junior Bryan Nguyen
doesn’t want Psy to be the go-to
person for K-POP.
“I’m not saying that I don’t
want him to become famous,” he
said. “I’m just saying that people
are really critical nowadays and
because of Psy, people might get
the wrong impression of K-POP
‘cause that’s not what K-POP
is all about. And it’s not how it

sounds like too, but because of
his image and nationality it might
give a wrong, misguided image of
Koreans.”
But sophomore Rochelle
Pham feels confident that
“Gangnam Style” will attract
more people to K-POP.
“[Gangnam Style] has been a
worldwide hit,” she said. “People
that don’t like K-POP know
about it. People that don’t
know K-POP know about it.
And maybe... they’ll explore
and find more amazing
K-POP. You can basically go up
to anyone and ask about K-POP,
and if they don’t know, we can
mention ‘Gangnam Style.’”

Julie Nguyen

Staff Reporter

Alyssa Andaverde
Staff Reporter

Alyssa Martinez

Junior Wallace Wilson dances to the
K-POP hit, “Gangnam Style.”

Staff Reporter

Entertainment | Kerronicle | 13

Finding a vocation
This summer, seniors Cindy Wang and Nga Nguyen auditioned for colleges at the National Thespian Festival,
getting callbacks for several schools and finally learning what their calling is

P

alms sweaty, Honor Thespian
Cindy Wang squirmed in her
seat, struggling to hold in her
full bladder. She ran her lines through
her head while watching another
Thespian woo the crowd with his hilarious monologue.
The annual National Thespian
Festival at the University of LincolnNebraska was an opportunity for students to showcase their talents and
win college scholarships.
As Wang’s turn got closer to her,
she forgot more and more of her
piece, eventually not remembering
the opening lines to the monologue
she had practiced for months. Yet, despite blanking out, all she could think
about was going to the restroom.
But everything changed when
she was on stage: when she hung her
head, braced herself, and raised it
back up, she was Trudy, a crazy bag
lady on “the corner of Walk, Don’t
Walk,” rambling about aliens in a
heavy New York accent.
“Up until then, I had forgotten
my lines to everything and then sud-

denly, I had an onslaught of lines
coming into my head,” senior Cindy
Wang said. “And I thought to my self,
‘Which one’s the first one!?’”
The pressure of over 70 college
representatives from all over the
country was nerve-wracking; seeing
people perform before her was what
really got to her.
“It’s so hard because sometimes
some of those people go up there and
it makes you feel better because [they
didn’t do so well]” she said. “But then
some people go up there and they’re
just phenomenal...they’ll just kill it,
and you’re like, ‘Oh…they’ve had a lot
more practice than us...’”
For senior Nga Nguyen, another
Thespian who went this summer, it
was the juggling act she had to do
during the performance that really
made the tension.
“The hardest part was rehearsing
before the audition,” she said. Theater
teacher Julie Ryan gave her critiques
to improve her performance, but once
she was on stage “I didn’t know what
to expect; what the judges looked like,

what room I was going to be in, how
good my ‘competition’ was, the judges’ expectations. All of that while trying to remember my lines and what I
needed to improve on.”
After auditions, colleges post the
names of students they are interested
in at their stands, where eager Thespians crowd to see if they were called
back.
Wang was called back for several
schools, including her dream school,
St. Mary’s University, Nguyen by
schools like St. Louis University and
the University of Houston.
But while both Thespians celebrated their success, they were even
happier that they finally came to
terms with what they wanted to do in
the future.
For Nguyen, she had always been
at odds with herself when it came to
her passion for dancing and her passion for theatre. It was through Thespian Festival that she learned she
could combine the two and do both
things she loved. It even helped her
organize and plan her senior year.

“At first I didn’t know what I wanted to be but when I got there, [I knew]
I wanted to be a theatre dance major.
I’ve always had to choose between the
two,” Nguyen said. “Now...I’m going
to do acting in school, I’m going to
do dancing after school and I’m taking other classes, like aerobics class, to
get better.”
For Wang, she had always been
doubtful of majoring in theatre and
becoming an actress. Being a member
of a minority group, she figured she’d
have an even harder time in the acting
business. The festival made her realize
that what made her happy was really
all she was looking for.
“Personally, for me, it’s not about
how much money I make or how successful I am,” she said. “My big thing
is, I don’t want to end up in a desk job.
I don’t want to end up doing something I don’t like doing.”

t’s been hard for me
to adjust to the work.
I’m constantly worried
what stuff is due.”
Getting used to Kerr is
always a challenge, but for
Bianca Perez, there is added
pressure: as a sophomore, she
is expected to know how Kerr
works, but as a transfer from
Hastings, she is still learning
the system.
“It’s definitely way different from what I’m used to,”
she said.
Transfer students are rare
but not unusual.
“Every year we accept
kids who are not freshman,
and are usually sophomores,

who tried last year and didn’t
get in or they just moved to
Alief,” principal Greg Freeman said.
Perez transferred because
she believed Kerr was going
to give a better college experience.
“I might as well get used
to the [college] environment,”
she said.
Junior Alrich Fajardo
moved from the Philippines
less than a year ago, attending
Hastings during the second
semester. It was his mother
who told him about Kerr and
encouraged him to enroll.
“She read online that Kerr
is really nice and it ranked

14 | Kerronicle | Feature

high in the state,” he said. “I
was expecting a college preparation.”
Fajardo was supposed to
be a junior at Kerr, but with a
confusing grading system, he
came in as a sophomore.
“I had credit from the
Philippines, so I just had to
test so the counselors would
know that I knew the subjects
I got credit for,” he said.
Fajardo also felt a distinct
change of environment from
the Philippines to Houston.
“Here, it’s more organized
and more cultural, but people
are friendly in the Philippines,” he said. “But it’s too
soon to tell which I like better.

Moving to America—it’s just
really different.”
Senior Carlos Felix spent
his last three years at Hastings
and made a sudden transfer
his senior year.
“It was a benefit for the
long run,” he said. “And I
wanted to be better prepared
for college.”
Felix, who transferred
with his brother, freshman
David Felix, learned about
Kerr from his dad but it
was his friends who further
convinced him to make the
transfer.
“They told me that I’d love
it,” he said, “and I do.”
After being at an ortho-

dox school for three years,
moving to Kerr was a huge
change.
“Doing work on my own
is a big difference, but I like it
better,” Felix said.
Felix admits he had heard
rumors that might have discouraged him from transferring to this school.
“Yeah, I heard a lot about
Kerr,” he said. “But it didn’t
matter, because through the
years I learned that it doesn’t
matter what people say or do
because everything I do is to
benefit me.”

Alyssa Martinez
Staff Reporter

,
e

n
t

d
-

t
t
e
t
o
o

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Jeremy Lin rockets to Houston

ith the ball in his hands
and the crowd cheering,
Jeremy Lin is pitted against
Los Angeles Lakers’ 6’7’’ foward Matt
Barnes. Lin sizes up Barnes and fakes
one way, exploding in the opposite
direction, only to be stopped by 7’1’’
veteran center Pau Gasol. Still, Lin
keeps his cool and reverses under the
basket to score.
The Madison Square Garden crowd
bursts into ecstatic approval as Lin
outscores Lakers’ All-Star guard Kobe
Bryant with a whopping 38 points.
This performance on February 10
along with his other “Lin-sane” plays,
contributed to the strain on his knee
which lead him to exit the season in
late March.
Last year during Linsanity,
Houston
Rockets
general
manager
Daryl
Morey

Courtesy of the
Houston Rockets

W

kicked himself for letting Jeremy Lin
go; “We should have kept @JLin7” he
said on his Twitter account.
This year, the Rockets were in dire
need of a point guard after letting
Goran Dragic go and trading firststring Kyle Lowry to the Toronto
Raptors for a first-round draft pick.
Morey saw this as an opportunity to
sign Lin, a restricted free agent (Lin
could sign with any team, but his
current team could match the other
team’s offer).
Lin’s breakthrough performance
as a starter last year gained him fame
and recognition. During the New
York Knicks’ winning streak, Lin
averaged 24.4 points along with 9.1
assists. At the end of the year, when his
contract ended, Morey pushed for Lin’s
contract; the Rockets tried harder than
any other team to acquire Lin.
The Rockets offered Lin $19
million, but the Knicks
were ready to match
the offer. Morey then
bumped up the offer
to $25.1 million and
officially signed Lin on
July 11. The Knicks could
n o t afford to place anymore
strain on their already bloated payroll
so they surrendered Lin.
Morey was criticized for Lin’s high
salary, but basketball fanatic Matthew
Marquez believes this was the right
move.

“The Rockets picked up Jeremy Lin
for his marketing benefits,” sophomore
Marquez said.
Sophomore Dylan Phu believes
that Lin could help the team with their
financial deficits.
“Jeremy Lin is super popular,
especially to Asians. Since Houston
has a lot of Asians, there will be a lot of
T-shirt sales. With that, [the Rockets]
could get more players,” Phu said.
“We‘re already rebuilding the team so
the money would help.”
The Rockets have been stuck in
ninth place in the Western Conference
for three consecutive years with a
winning percentage of 0.517. At this
point, Rockets will have a hard time
climbing the Conference ladder.
“The Rockets are in the middle of
the league. They can’t get better,” Phu
said, “they can only get worse than get
better because they can’t build a team
simply with the 14th pick in the draft.”
Phu explains in the lottery draft
system, the lower a team’s winning
percentage, the higher the chance they
have of obtaining a highly sought after
athlete.
Whether or not Lin could push
the team to greater heights depends
on how well Lin fits in with his team.
The Rockets already established their
play style, but Steve Levine believes he
could fit in.
“Lin seems to me to be a very
likeable young man. I think he was

popular with the Rockets before they
let him go. I think they like him as
a player, it’s just at that time they
were full of tremendous amount of
guards, so I think he’ll get along with
everybody,” said Levine.
Phu thinks the current roster of
the Rockets’ actually works to Lin’s
advantage.
“Lin can run the ‘pick-and-roll,’”
he said, referring to a basketball play
involving a point guard who could pass
to a big man who can score around the
rim. “And the Rockets are filled with
many good finishers to execute it along
with him.”
Fans have high expectations for
Lin; they believe he has a vast pool of
potential and will continue to improve,
according to Levine.
“He certainly has the potential to
be a good, steady, basketball player. I
think he has the talent; I think he has
the confidence and as long as he stays
healthy, I think he’s going to help the
Rockets,” Levine said.
According to Phu, Lin has been
practicing hard to prepare for the
upcoming season.
“Leg workouts, jumpshots; he used
to have an ugly jumpshot, now he
doesn’t,” Phu said. “We have Jeremy
Lin: good and young talent.”

Kevin Nguyen
Staff Reporter

Timothy Wang goes for the gold

hen
he
was
a
freshman, Timothy
Wang used to play
table tennis every Thursday after
school with the Table Tennis Club.
“He was always heads and shoulders above everybody else,” social
studies teacher Rick Madsen said.
But even Madsen, the club sponsor, probably never anticipated that
Wang would be an Olympic athlete.
Even before Wang could see over
the ping-pong table, he said in an
email interview, his mother would
let him sit on the table as he hit the
ball back and forth with his dad. His
whole family would play as family when Wang was a child. His two
older brothers were also good table
tennis players, but didn’t have the
same passion as he did.
He entered a variety of competitions as a child, eventually deciding

in 2007 to train full-time. He left a week on the table, and one hour
Kerr and began training for national a day in the gym five days a week,”
and international contests. When he Wang said.
was 17, he won the Junior National
Wang was the only male table
Championships for table tennis; the tennis player to represent the U.S.
following year he won the Men’s U.S. at the 2012 London Olympics. He
by beating
National ChampiHe was always heads qualified
hundreds of playonship, then the
regular and mixed and shoulders above
ers from both the
doubles in 2011,
United States and
everybody else.
Canada. His first
qualifying for the
match pitted him
the semi-finals the
—Rick Madsen
against North Koresame year.
For photos and videos go to
an Kim Song Nam,
Wang received
coaching
from
and Wang lost.
kerronicle.com
Despite the dehis father and
two older brothers. He still calls feat, Wang said he enjoyed the
Houston his hometown, but he has chance to be part of the Olympics
a coach stationed in both Houston and be with other international
and California.
athletes in the Olympic Village. An
“Leading up to the Olympic experience he will never forget was
Games, my training consisted of when he saw Michael Phelps and
three to four hours a day, seven days Ryan Lochte.

“

”

“I immediately jumped up in
shock and yelled for my teammates
to look back,” Wang said. “It was a
little embarrassing because they
looked at me like I was kind of crazy
but I couldn’t help myself. They’re
the two best swimmers of all time.”
Now that Wang has accomplished his dream of becoming an
Olympian, the next step is to be one
of the world’s top 200 tennis players.
Wang is currently ranked 408, but
at the age of 21, he has more accomplishments to come.
“After coming back from London, my eyes have really been
opened to what it is really like to
play at the highest level,” he said.
”It has motivated me to train harder
and hopefully by 2016 I will be ready
to compete with the best of the best.”

Phat Pham

Business Manager

Sports | Kerronicle | 15

G

Sayara! An Egypt Story

raffiti from the revolution is scribbled on walls, baring
the vulgar phrases “--- SCAF” (the Supreme Council of
Armed Forces) and “---- Mubarak”; telephone poles are
layered with faded campaign flyers for the upcoming election.
This is Old Cairo, Egypt. Last summer, I saw the reconstruction
of a country.
Having a shouting match with an Egyptian street vendor is
an amusing story to tell, but it’s also a part of more serious, universal issue. The American media portrays Egyptians as strong
Arabs with smiles on their faces, holding posters, arms raised in
victory. There is a false sense of reassurance that Egypt is okay,
that it’s stable, that the hard part has past. But the little things
— an increase in the number of beggars on the street and the
desperation of vendors who scramble to make money — show
that Egypt has a lot of work to do.
I remember driving down the main highway with soldiers on
army tanks and rifles at the ready. According to my uncle, the

Things

you should know :

SCAF took precautions in case of another outbreak. The tightening of security, however, couldn’t prevent small bar fights. Case
in point, my uncle’s friend’s wife was home one night when she
heard an argument between two drunk men outside her window.
“One man took a bottle and beat the other man until he was
unconscious,” she said. “My husband wasn’t home, so I panicked
and hid [in the closet] with my daughter. They were arguing
about politics.”
The anti-Gaddafi protests in Benghazi, Libya, that sparked
the flames of Middle Eastern uproar are not over yet. Tension in
the Middle East impacts Americans who have family there, and
there’s a possibility of the United States being pulled into war
through alliances with Middle Eastern countries. For the sake of
peace, I hope the Egyptian people find their feet, but everyone
should be wary of the country — Egypt might be a worldwide
disaster waiting to happen.
Nadia Zulfa
Story Editor

Misquoted

Some of the most famous lines in history were never really said. Here’s a list of quotes you
probably got wrong. Sources: The Internet Movie Database, TV Tropes
“Everyone gets 15 minutes of fame.”

Andy Warhol

quotes

“In the future, everybody will be world
famous for fifteen minutes.”

“Okay Houston, we’ve had a
problem here.”

Darth Vader
“I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.”

“I’ve a feeling we’re not in
Kansas anymore.”

“If there’s more than one way to do a job, and
one of those ways will result in disaster, then
somebody will do it that way.”

“Magic mirror on the wall.”

“The love of money is the root of all evil,” or “the
love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.”

Sherlock Holmes never said “Elementary, my dear Watson” in
the original Sherlock Holmes series by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Captain Kirk